John Paul Stevens, Retired Supreme Court Justice, Dies At 99Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has died at the age of 99. Appointed by President Gerald Ford, he was known for his "crafty and genial hand" and as a "judge's judge."

Retired Justice John Paul Stevens, A Maverick On The Bench, Dies At 99

Retired Justice John Paul Stevens, a veteran of 34 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, has died. He was 99. Stevens was appointed by Republican President Gerald Ford. And while he was once viewed as moderately conservative, he eventually earned a reputation as the most liberal justice on a court dramatically more conservative than the one he joined in 1975. Here's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: John Paul Stevens, often called a judge's judge, was something of a throwback to a less rancorous era, when, as one writer put it, law and politics were a noble pursuit not a blood sport. The quintessential Midwesterner Stevens was born in Chicago, educated at Northwestern and the University of Chicago. In the Windy City, he earned a reputation as a brilliant lawyer and, later, appeals court judge. In 1975, President Ford appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court. The nomination drew instant praise from Democrats and Republicans alike. And Stevens, wearing his trademark bow tie, was confirmed in a remarkable three weeks. Given his lack of political ties, Stevens' rise was, to some extent, a fluke, according to his onetime law clerk Clifford Sloan.

CLIFFORD SLOAN: It was an accident of history, and the stars lined up in a way that could not have been possible before that precise moment and probably could not have been possible after that precise moment.

TOTENBERG: A brand-new president, Gerald Ford, suddenly had a Supreme Court vacancy to fill. And with the country still reeling from the Watergate scandal, the name of the game was to pick someone of unassailable credentials and no political connections. Ford assigned his attorney general, Edward Levi, a man also picked for his lack of political ties, to do the screening. And Levi, the onetime dean of the University of Chicago Law School, quickly fixed his eye on Stevens, a lifelong Republican with no record of political or judicial activism. Once on the court, Stevens quickly earned a reputation for quality work and for independence.

Over time, he was seen as an increasingly respected and influential justice, a man beloved by his colleagues for his decency, his unassuming nature and his tough inner core. In his first decade, he was viewed as a center-right justice. But as the composition of the court grew more and more conservative, he found himself referred to as the court's most liberal member - a moniker he never liked. Indeed, Stevens said forthrightly in 2010 that it wasn't he who changed. Rather, it was a court populated by new justices with a conservative ideology that Stevens saw as quite radical. Over the years, Stevens authored some 400 majority opinions for the court on almost every issue imaginable, from property rights to immigration, from abortion to obscenity, from school prayer to campaign finance reform, from term limits to the relationship between the federal and state governments.

TOTENBERG: As former Solicitor General Ted Olson put it...

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TED OLSON: The crafty and genial hand of Justice Stevens was everywhere evident.

TOTENBERG: The decisions Stevens will likely be remembered for most, though, are those he authored on national security and presidential power. Stevens wrote the court's 5-3 decision repudiating President Bush's assertion of unilateral executive power in setting up war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And in 2004, he authored the court's 6-3 decision, allowing the Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detentions in the U.S. courts. Both had profound implications for the limits of presidential power. Bush was not the first president to feel Stevens' sting. Stevens also wrote the opinion for a unanimous court in Clinton v. Jones; the decision refusing to postpone Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton. In summarizing the decision from the bench in 1997, Stevens dismissed the notion that the suit would burden the presidency.

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JOHN PAUL STEVENS: In the entire history of the republic, only three sitting presidents have been subjected to suits for their private actions. As for the case at hand, there's nothing in the record to identify any potential harm that might ensue from scheduling the trial promptly after discovery is concluded.

TOTENBERG: Critics thought Stevens' view naive - the view of a man who knew nothing of the venality of politics or political enemies. And, indeed, as it turned out, Paula Jones' case led directly to the impeachment of President Clinton. But defenders of the decision see it as an example of the highest value in the American legal system; that no person is above the law. While Stevens authored some of the court's most complex and important decisions, often bringing together, under one legal tent, justices one might not expect to agree, he also dissented from the court's rulings more frequently than any other justice. When the court struck down a Texas law that punished burning the American flag, Stevens, the Navy veteran and winner of the Bronze Star, objected, declaring that the value of the flag as a symbol cannot be measured. When the court revived the doctrine of states' rights, he dissented. In 1997, when the court majority ruled that a key section of the Brady gun-control law unconstitutionally conscripted local law enforcement to conduct background checks on gun buyers, Stevens took the unusual step of announcing his dissent from the bench.

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STEVENS: The basic question is whether Congress, acting on behalf of the people of the entire nation, has the power to require local law enforcement officers to perform certain duties. Since the ultimate issue is one of power, we have to consider its implications in times of national emergency - matters such as the mass inoculation of children to forestall an epidemic or, perhaps, the threat of an international terrorist.

TOTENBERG: Stevens' ultimate revenge came eight years later, when he managed to eke out a 5-4 majority upholding a federal regulatory scheme under which the federal law making marijuana illegal trumped state laws legalizing it for medical purposes.

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STEVENS: Our case law firmly establishes that Congress has the power to regulate purely local activities when necessary to implement a comprehensive national regulatory program.

TOTENBERG: Stevens' angriest dissent came, without doubt, in Bush v. Gore. Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner in this year's presidential election, he wrote, the identity of the loser is clear. It is the nation's confidence in the judge as impartial guardian of the rule of law. Two other dissents were barn burners as well. His 2008 dissent, when a five-justice majority struck down a local ban on handguns, ruling for the first time that there's a constitutional right for individuals to own a gun - and his 2010 dissent, when the same five-justice majority struck down a century-old ban on corporate spending in candidate elections. Stevens' oral dissent in the campaign finance case, provided here by the Oyez Project, was passionate and long.

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STEVENS: Simply put, corporations are not human beings. In the context of an election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Corporations cannot vote or run for office. Because they're managed (ph) and controlled by non-residents, their interests may conflict in fundamental ways with the interests of eligible voters. The rule announced today that Congress must treat corporate speakers exactly like human beings in the political realm represents a radical change in the law.

TOTENBERG: Behind the scenes, Stevens was often a persuasive and strategic thinker. In 1992, for instance, he played a pivotal role in the court's reconsideration of its abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade. The court was split into three separate factions - four justices to reverse Roe outright, three to uphold its core but allow more regulation by the states and two, including Stevens and Harry Blackmun, to uphold Roe entirely. Upon receiving the draft of the three middle-ground justices, Stevens suggested a reorganization of their opinion so that he and Blackmun could join most of it, and there would be a single opinion that was supported by a court majority of 5. The three quickly agreed, and the opinion became the law of the land. In a 2010 NPR interview, Stevens said that in his three and a half decades on the court, he really had just one regret.

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STEVENS: I think there is one vote that I would change. And that's one - was upholding the Texas capital punishment statute.

TOTENBERG: He cast that vote in 1976, at a time when, he noted, the court had adopted many rules to limit the death penalty to a narrow category of offenders and to prevent what he called loading the dice for the prosecution. But over time, those limiting rules were abandoned. And so in his later years, Stevens opposed most death sentences, winning rare but important victories, as when he wrote the court's opinion striking down capital punishment for the, quote, "mentally retarded." He maintained he was undecided about retiring. But in late June of 2010, his lengthy dissent in the campaign finance case was marred by verbal flubs. He was so distressed by his performance that he sought a complete checkup by his doctor. There was nothing wrong. But not long thereafter, Stevens announced his retirement. In the years afterwards, he continued to be both physically and intellectually active, playing tennis and golf, writing articles and books and speaking about the court and its work. When he thought the court in error, he lobbed critiques, as always, pointed, literate and respectful. The very qualities that made him such a revered figure in the law.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

KELLY: And the news again for those of you just joining us - retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens died this evening at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The cause was complications following a stroke. And Nina Totenberg is here with us live.

Hey there, Nina.

TOTENBERG: Hi there, Mary Louise.

KELLY: Hey. My main question for you, as somebody who's covered the court for so many years - tell me your best Justice Stevens story. How will you remember him?

TOTENBERG: I will always remember him as such a gentleman, that when he would ask a question - and he asked very good questions - he would say something on the order of, excuse me, counsel. Forgive me. Maybe I'm not quite understanding you, but - and then he would ask this question that would go to the heart of the case. And the lawyer would be left standing there sort of gawking, going, what do I do with this? But he was never impolite. He was always kind. He really...

KELLY: Yeah.

TOTENBERG: ...Was a beloved figure.

KELLY: Yeah. That is NPR's Nina Totenberg, remembering John Paul Stevens, who served 34 years on the U.S. Supreme Court. He died tonight. He was 99 years old.

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